ABOUT
THE
SOUTHERN BACKWOODS
ORACLE: THE ART
The art of The Southern Backwoods Oracle deck was created with the Procreate App on an iPad Air. It features black-and-white artwork that seeks to capture the magic of every-day life, represented as stories, characters, seasons, and elements inspired by my southern, rural childhood adventures.
The deck is separated into four seasons, with stand-alone narrative running throughout each season. The stories tell of mystical encounters, childhood imaginations, and forested places, and it hits on such themes as loss, companionship, magic, bewilderment, joy, death, creation, and enlightenment.
The goal of this deck is to connect the reader to mossy logs of the forested South, to the grassy fields of the rural backwoods, and to the enchanted realms of nature spirits. The goal of this deck is to transport the reader to the very core of nature and magic, like no other deck before.
THE
SOUTHERN BACKWOODS
ORACLE: THE BACKSTORY
The Southern Backwoods Oracle deck started as a drawing I worked on while sitting in my lawn chair in the backyard, watching my kids play. I finished it, look down, and thought "That would be a great tarot card." And with that, The Southern Backwoods Oracle deck was born.
But I look back, and it didn't truly start outside in my yard in 2022. It really began on a farm in southeast Louisiana, deep in the forests and fields. A place where, as a child, I would run through the thick rye grass, jump over the eroded-clay creeks, and crawl under the mossy, musty logs.
It was born in the backwoods.
THE
SOUTHERN BACKWOODS
ORACLE: THE CREATOR AND PROFESSIONAL
Jesse Williams, MS, LPC/MHSP, NCC, CCH
I've been an artist my whole life, and a tarot card reader for roughly fifteen years. I've dabbled in various forms of visual art, such as acrylics, watercolors, oils, sketching, 3D art design, and colored pencils. Art has always been an important piece of my life: it's given voice to my trauma, peace to my soul, and expression to my creative fire.
I draw a lot of my inspiration from the dark and light of life and nature, and it feels like perfect alignment of my soul to pursue the goal of producing a black-and-white oracle deck based out of nature and storytelling.
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While I am an artist in my free time, I am a licensed, clinical mental health counselor, certified clinical hypnotherapist, and professional card reader in the work world. I also consider myself to be an empath with the gift of clairsentience, which I use within my professional and artist pursuits.
For more information on my life as a therapist, check out Holistic in Nature Counseling Services